justice Archives

Above: Dow/Union Carbide “Seadrift Operations” plastic and petrochemical complex in Seadrift, Texas. Photo by Diane Wilson

Update 3/27: Diane Wilson Released and Public Meeting Announced

Diane Wilson was released from jail early on Friday, March 27, 2026. Wilson continues her hunger strike, calling on Dow to stop polluting plastic pellets from the Seadrift facility and withdraw their permit application to build four new nuclear reactors at the site.

In a separate protest on March 26, Wilson’s colleague and San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper (SABEW) organizer Dan Lê interrupted Dow CEO Jim Fitterling during a keynote speech at an oil and gas conference in Houston, asking why he had not responded to Wilson’s letter. Lê was arrested that day and has since been released. Dow has not offered a response to SABEW’s demand letter.

Following more than 200 requests, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has announced it will hold a public meeting on Dow’s wastewater permit application—a request to authorize uncontrolled microplastics and plastic chemical discharges into waterways that flow into San Antonio Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. These waters provide habitat for endangered species such as the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle and the whooping crane, while also supporting local fishing economies.

Dow’s application is currently under technical review, and the meeting will be scheduled once a draft permit is released. Records of activity related to the permit is available here.

Return to this blog for further updates as this story develops.

Update 3/26: Diane Wilson Arrested After Peaceful Attempt to Deliver Letter on Day 25 of Hunger Strike

On day 25 of Diane Wilson’s hunger strike, Wilson was arrested after attempting to deliver a demand letter to Dow Chemical. This was Wilson’s second attempt to deliver the letter in person to the site director to then forward the letter to Dow CEO Jim Fitterling. After refusing to leave the property until the letter could be received, sheriff’s officers arrived to arrest her.

Wilson initiated her hunger strike on March 2, with the demands for Dow to commit to zero discharge of plastic pellets, powder, and flakes from its Seadrift facility and to withdraw all plans to build four experimental nuclear reactors at the site. Wilson says she will not end her strike until all her demands are met, planning to continue her hunger strike from the Calhoun County jail. Read more here.

Update 3/10: Diane Wilson Makes Demands

As Diane Wilson entered the second week of her hunger strike, she and members of San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper attempted to deliver a formal demand letter to the facility’s site director to forward to Dow CEO Jim Fitterling. When San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper requested delivery to a senior official, Dow’s head of security, John Weitz, offered to “handle” the letter himself, ordered them to stop video recording, told them they were on private property, and said that Wilson specifically would be arrested if she set foot on Dow property, citing her history of a 2002 action at the facility, in which she scaled an 80-foot chemical tower to unfurl a banner regarding the Bhopal disaster.

Shortly after, Calhoun County sheriff’s officers arrived and presented Diane and a San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper member with a formal order to sign, bearing Weitz’s name, stating that they would be arrested if found on Dow property. When San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper requested a copy of the order they had been asked to sign, they were told they could not have one. The letter is being sent directly to Fitterling at Dow’s headquarters in Midland, Michigan.

The demand letter makes two requests: that Dow commit to zero discharge of plastic pellets, powder, and flakes from its Seadrift facility and incorporate that commitment into its operating permit; and that Dow cancel all plans to build four experimental nuclear reactors at the site and withdraw its construction permit application from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Wilson says she will not end her strike until both demands are met.

Diane Wilson, Goldman Prize-winning activist and fourth-generation fisherwoman, initiated a hunger strike on March 2, 2026, demanding action in response to Dow’s recent request to the State of Texas to legalize its discharge of microplastics and plan to build four experimental nuclear reactors. Wilson is camping out 24 hours a day in a ditch in front of Dow’s Seadrift complex.

Facing multiple lawsuits over its pollution, Dow has made an unprecedented request to legalize the discharge of plastic pellets called “nurdles” from its massive plastics and petrochemical complex in Seadrift, Texas, into waters that feed San Antonio Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. If Dow’s permit to discharge is approved, the decision could set a precedent for legalizing discharges of microplastics and plastic chemicals from other plastics and petrochemical manufacturing facilities.

Diane Wilson is a lifelong resident of Seadrift, Texas, and also serves as San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper’s Executive Director. She and other boaters have spent years collecting thousands of samples of evidence of Dow and other plastic producers’ continual plastic pollution in industrial canals and waterways outside of their facilities. In 2019, Wilson and San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper won a landmark $50 million Clean Water Act settlement after suing Formosa Plastics in nearby Point Comfort—another major plastic producing facility—for its pollution in Lavaca/Matagorda Bay and other Texas waterways. San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper provided more than 2,000 samples of microplastic pollution collected from industrial canals and these local waterways as evidence in court.

For decades, plastic pellets called ‘nurdles’ have been flowing from this plant into our waterways—ending up in our bay, on our shorelines, and in the fish, birds, and oysters that call these waters home. Their wastewater permit is clear: no floating solids except trace amounts. And what have our Waterkeepers documented? Hundreds of thousands of pellets. In one sample taken on New Years Eve, 2025, I collected 107 pounds of plastic pellets in one spot. In nurdle terms, that’s over 2 million pellets. That’s not ‘trace amounts.’ That’s reckless disregard. That’s ‘We don’t care.’

That is why I am so enraged by the cavalier and unspeakable reckless language in Dow’s new wastewater permit. They are saying ‘trace amounts’ for ‘floating solids’ (pellets) is vague and too stringent. They want something more and the language is forthcoming. Basically, Dow is asking Texas to legalize plastic pollution from its Seadrift facility.

— Diane Wilson

Decision Could Mean Permission to Pollute

Dow operates in Seadrift as its subsidiary Union Carbide Corporation to produce various types of plastics as well as fossil fuel-derived industrial chemicals commonly used in antifreeze and coolants, detergents, paints, and other products. The company requested an amendment to its wastewater permit in a 320-page application filed January 4, 2026. It explicitly requests “a change to the language requiring no discharge of floating solids other than trace amounts.” Before plastics are melted into products, they are manufactured into pellets (nurdles), powders, flakes, and foam.

Even with standing prohibitions on anything more than “trace” discharge of plastics and plastic chemicals under the Federal Clean Water Act, plastic facilities commonly discharge these substances into local waterways along with their industrial wastewater. Officially allowing such discharge in the State of Texas would create a pathway for taking the teeth out of existing pollution regulations on facilities producing plastics and petrochemicals, granting corporations permission to pollute microplastics and plastic chemicals.

Longstanding Evidence of Pollution

*Photo taken by Diane Wilson on December 31, 2025, in Texas, where a 15-minute water sample resulted in the collection of over 2 million plastic pellets weighing 107 lbs*

In December 2025, San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper filed a legal notice of intent to sue Dow for alleged large-scale discharges of plastic pellets, powders, flakes, and foam from its 4,700-acre petrochemical complex outside Seadrift, Texas. Then, 58 days after Waterkeeper filed its 60-day notice of intent to sue Dow, in February the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit alleging “habitual” water pollution violations at Dow’s Seadrift complex.

Though the State of Texas’ lawsuit references hundreds of documented violations at the Dow complex, its filing hindered Waterkeeper from filing its own suit. That’s because, while individuals, communities, and organizations can sue for pollution violations under the Clean Water Act, they may only do so when regulators—such as state entities—have not intervened to address documented violations. Texas’ lawsuit appears to follow a pattern in which state officials sue polluters only to later negotiate modest settlements in order to prevent more aggressive litigation from individuals, communities, and organizations like Waterkeeper.

Take Action

A public comment period is currently open on Dow’s application to amend its wastewater permit. Afterwards, it is expected to be voted on by three state commissioners who were appointed by Governor Greg Abbott. According to Inside Climate News, “Dow gave $20,000 to Abbott’s two inaugural committees, and Dow’s PAC gave $5,000 to Abbott’s 2026 reelection campaign and $20,000 to other Republican candidates in October.”

If you are living in Texas, you can help by requesting a public meeting on Dow’s permit. Please fill out the form at this link.

Follow and support the work of San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper for updates here.

September 23, 2024 , 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm EDT

Save the Date: Sept. 23 in New York!

The Hip Hop Caucus is launching the We Shall Breathe National Summit and premiering the Underwater Projects Film virtually and in person at the Helen Mills Theater in New York City.

For centuries, the South has laid the blueprint for the transformative movement toward international liberation and equity. This year, the We Shall Breathe Summit will explore the interconnected struggles for climate justice, economic justice, and voting rights. Through compelling stories and innovative solutions, the summit will amplify the lived experiences of those most impacted, sparking a global dialogue that drives solidarity and collective action. Featuring an inspiring panel of speakers and with special performances by Jade Novah, Yellopain, and AY Young.

Following the We Shall Breathe Summit, Underwater Projects, the latest short film by Hip Hop Caucus, is coming to Climate Week NYC for a green carpet premiere!

Home to the world’s largest naval base, Norfolk, Virginia is sinking. It is more vulnerable than even New Orleans. The insufficient flood walls end where a housing project and a historic African American community begins. Underwater Projects mixes animation with live action to profile the area’s local leaders as they rush to create climate resilience plans to face an uncertain future. The film features narration by comedian Wanda Sykes and is directed by Liz Havstad. Join us in-person on Monday, September 23rd at the Helen Mills Theater to watch and discuss this important film with the cast and crew, as well as partners in NYC.

The Green Carpet begins at 7pm ET, but you can arrive at 5pm ET to watch the summit with us in person!

RSVP here

The historic Black community of Wallace, Louisiana, celebrates a win as residents have stopped the Greenfield grain export terminal. This win comes several years after many people in Wallace first started speaking out against the project—an enormous grain export complex proposed by Greenfield Louisiana LLC, which would have been built on the same grounds where some locals’ enslaved ancestors once lived. Last week, a representative of Greenfield Louisiana LLC announced during a public hearing that the company would be “ceasing all plans” to move forward.

The proposed $400 million dock and grain terminal would have been built on a 1,700-acre site purchased by Denver, Colorado-based company Greenfield Louisiana LLC, in the historic Black community of Wallace, St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. With a grain elevator as tall as the Louisiana Superdome, with 54 storage silos the height of the Statue of Liberty, the Greenfield project would have caused serious environmental harm, potentially disturbed archeological remains and burial grounds, and would likely have acted as a gateway for further industrialization of the property by the oil, gas, plastics, and petrochemical industries. The Greenfield facility would have driven additional pollution and injustice in Wallace, St. John the Baptist Parish, and across the River Parishes region, which is already facing the serious impacts of unchecked industrial development in primarily Black communities, like Wallace.

The Descendants Project, a Wallace-based environmental justice organization co-founded by twins Jo and Joy Banner, has been one of the most outspoken opponents and organizers against the Greenfield project. The Descendants Project has led several years of community organizing and action against the project. This includes bringing a successful lawsuit ending an illegal re-zoning ordinance, halting a proposed resolution that would have eliminated the safety buffer requirement between “heavy industrial” and “residential” zoning areas, commissioning an impact study on how the grain terminal would impact the community of Wallace, and much more.

It’s the latest industrial project to threaten the community—and the latest that residents have successfully held off. In 1992, the Wallace community successfully rallied against the construction of a Formosa Plastics Group’s proposed rayon plant that would have displaced residents—including the Banner sisters’ family, when Jo and Joy were just 10 years old. That project was finally halted after it came to light that the parish president, Lester Millet, was guilty of extortion and other crimes as he helped Formosa move forward with its plan to build in Wallace.

For the second time in my life, I have had to fight to save my beloved home of Wallace. First from Formosa Plastics, and this time from Greenfield Louisiana. Once again grassroots efforts, combined with the support of advocates from all over the world, prevented over 130 tons of pollution, including dangerous particulate matter, from entering our community of Wallace and the whole of Cancer Alley. Today, we can proudly say that we stood on the shoulders of our ancestors to stand tall against corporate polluters and an abysmal government that allows it, for the protection of our homes and heritage. Communities, do not take ‘no’ for an answer—but instead, tell polluters the answer will always be ‘No!’

— Jo Banner, Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Descendants Project

Jo Banner (left) and Joy Banner (right), co-founders of The Descendants Project and leaders in the fight against Greenfield. Jo Banner hugs a supporter moments after hearing that the company would cease plans for a grain elevator facility in the middle of her hometown of Wallace, which is in Louisiana’s heavily industrialized “Cancer Alley.” (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

As a result of The Descendants Project’s organizing, in April 2024, the Army Corps recognized the community of Wallace as a National Register Historic District for its association with the African American experience in Louisiana and as a postbellum African American community. Additionally, the Army Corps determined that the proposed grain terminal’s construction and operation would cause day and nighttime lighting, noise, and traffic, and that vibratory impacts would have an “adverse effect” on the Community of Wallace National Register Historic District. There is also the likely possibility that the project would have destroyed archeological remains and grave sites of enslaved peoples related to the Black descendant community, which may exist and have not yet been found on the former plantation property Greenfield planned to develop.

In the U.S., people living in predominantly low-income, rural, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and other underserved communities and regions are more likely to die prematurely due to toxic air pollution, in addition to experiencing polluted soils and waters, and facing heightened risk of fires and deadly industrial accidents like explosions. This is the result of decades of racist policies and practices, including slavery, segregation, blockbusting, and barriers voting that enable polluting, hazardous industries to most easily become established in these communities that are least valued by society.

Sadly, many people in the descendant community across the River Parishes, including elsewhere in St. John the Baptist Parish, face health challenges caused by exposure to industrial pollution, as well as the social and economic harms caused by the legacies of slavery and other forms of racism.

The Descendants Project is helping to shift this pattern by assisting local people in finding non exploitive and safe jobs, serving as tireless advocates for the descendant community, and taking action to end environmental injustice on a systemic level, and creating spaces that are welcoming and celebratory of Black lives—including their newly acquired Woodland Plantation in La Place, Louisiana.

September 23, 2024 , 8:00 am – September 24, 2024 , 5:00 pm EDT

The NYULH Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards (CIEH) will host a free Plastics and Human Health Symposium on September 23 & 24, 2024.

The NYULH Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards (CIEH) will kick off Climate Week NYC on September 23 and 24, 2024, for a two-day in-person scientific symposium on Plastics and Human Health here at NYU. This convening will have a heavy translational emphasis and an eye toward the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, which have had four rounds of International Negotiations Committee meetings that have revealed some of the difficulties in shaping an agreement to reduce plastic production and consumption.

Keynote speakers include:

Pete Myers, PhD, founder and Chief Scientist of Environmental Health Sciences, Adjunct Professor, Mellon College of Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Nihan Karali, PhD, Engineering/Environmental Policy Researcher, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley
Robert Sargis, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
Jo Banner, Co-Founder & Co-Director, The Descendants Project
Jane Muncke, PhD, MSc, Managing Director, Food Packaging Forum Foundation
Luis Vayas Valdivieso, LLM, Ambassador of Ecuador to the U.K., Chair of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC)

Agenda

Monday, September 23rd (8:00 am to 6:30 pm)
Tuesday, September 24th (9:30 am to 4:30 pm)

Breakfast and coffee will be available beginning at 8:00 AM ET on September 23rd and 9:30 am on September 24th. Lunch will be provided. A small reception will follow the event on September 23rd at 5:15 PM ET. Please bring your own reusable water bottles.

The conference will be held at Schwartz Ground Floor, SLHE, at the NYU Langone Health Medical Science Building, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY, 10016. We will also live stream the event.

The first day will cover the gamut of issues, from microplastics to chemicals, across all the organ systems impacted, while the second day will have a heavy translational emphasis and an eye toward the Global Plastics Treaty.

Full agenda to be shared closer to the event.

For any event-related questions, please contact nyucieh2@nyulangone.org.